avatarMeghan E. Gattignolo

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Non-Fiction | Writing | NaNoWriMo

3 Lessons I Learned from Losing NaNoWriMo 2023

Not as successful as last year, that’s for sure.

Photo by Ferenc Horvath on Unsplash

Everyone gets excited during NaNoWriMo, recording their progress, talking about their projects. But does anyone write about losing NaNoWriMo? I didn’t check for similar articles before writing this. If you’ve read an interesting article on the subject, feel free to let me know. [And if you have written a great article on writing failures, please let me know. I’ll link you in a future article.] It’s important to add levity to everyone’s writing life in this world of optimism and constant betterment. Sometimes, we just need to hash about our frustrations. You know, like regular people.

Last year I won NaNoWriMo. I felt so great about it, I wrote an article here on Medium, months before I was granted membership into the sparkly Partner Program. Find that article below if you want to read about my amazing insights and self-reflection epiphanies. It’s always fun to see what other people go through, great or terrible.

I haven’t touched the draft of the novel I completed last year. I’m still reeling from finishing it. Well, like I say in the article, 50,000 words did not finish the novel, but I’m much closer to resolving the story than I ever have before. That’s saying something.

Instead, this year I opted for a different angle: to write 50,000 words in fiction stories on Medium.

OMG was that hard! I didn’t realize how much harder writing 50,000 words of short stories would be than tapping up a draft of a novel. I mean, I should have known coming up with new concepts to write about every day would take a lot more time and creative energy. So obviously I didn’t hit my goal, but I’m still proud of myself.

Why am I proud of myself, you ask? Well, let me tell you why!

1. My Writing Still Needs Work

Every time I push myself toward a goal, I learn a little bit more about myself as a writer and human. So this year I learned my writing still needs work… but it’s a lot better than it was last year! I’ve pinpointed (and fixed) some flaws in my writing, I’ve improved my self-editing capabilities, learned some new habits, and mostly cringe less when I read my own work again later. Success!

2. Inspiration Can Be Milked From Any Interaction

Like most writers who still consider themselves novices, I’m always afraid I’ll run out of things to write about. This belief cripples my productivity. However, when I push myself to write more I flail about for inspiration — and realize it can come from literally anywhere.

Prime example: at some point during this past month, I was bored sitting in the waiting room with my younger daughter while my older daughter was in an appointment. The younger daughter was showing me what she was doing on her phone. She was playing one of those silly app games where you don’t really try to win anything, just flip ragdoll characters around and let them fall down a pit or get crushed by rocks. That made me think — what would happen if a conscious living person was transported into a game like this? Wouldn’t that be horrible? After we went home I wrote this little ditty:

I give full credit for my daughter for inspiring me. I read it to her later, and … I think she liked it? It’s getting harder to tell what my kids like and hate anymore.

Even when I don’t know where I’m going with my writing, and just push forward, typing without thinking, the act of writing alone resolves all manner of ailments. I do not need to have a plan to produce something pretty cool.

3. Goals Help Me Work Harder

Like that saying about shooting for the stars, even though I didn’t make it to 50,000 words this season, I did greatly improve my total story count on Medium! I counted it up, and in November I added 23 new stories to my Medium profile. That’s awfully close to one per day. I don’t think I’ve ever had such a productive month on Medium (I also made more on Medium this month than any other, but more on that in a later article).

I also started a new publication this month:

Passages Through Writing includes articles about the writing and creativity process. I’m happy to add new writers, too.

And That’s Pretty Much It

I know now that creating goals for myself here on Medium is an effective tool for me and my writing. So now I have a plan. Who needs a special month to set a writing goal? My new goal for December (my birthday month, so I can’t let myself down) is to get my story/article count on Medium up to a grand total of 100.

I’m actually kind of disappointed with myself that I don’t have 100 published stories on Medium already, after being active here for a year. Inexcusable. So I’m elevating myself this month. I only need about 35 more to get there. That’s roughly 8 — almost 9 — a week, and only a mere 12 more stories than I published last month. I know I can do it. However, I also know that if I don’t make it all the way there, I’ll still end up much closer to 100 stories than I am right now and can start 2024 off strong!

Take care and keep writing!

Thanks for reading! If you liked this, follow Meghan E. Gattignolo on Medium and subscribe. Meghan is the creator of two Medium publications: Fascinate Me Fiction and Passages Through Writing. She also writes for The Customs House Museum & Cultural Center. Find her on X and Instagram as Meggiebeth_Writes.

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